Tuesday, June 17, 2014

J/125 Crushes Rund Skagen Offshore Race

Rund Skagen fleet sailing off Germany (Heligoland, Germany)- The Nordseewoche participants were welcomed to Heligoland Island with bright, beautiful sunshine on Sunday, just prior to the start of the famous Rund Skagen Race.  However, by the following day when the fleet took off north to go up and around the northern parts of Germany and Denmark and then back down the straits between Denmark and Sweden to finish in Kiel, Germany 510nm later, the weather was anything but sunny!  It was a special challenge as always for this legendary race that takes the teams on a tortuous route through the North Sea, the Skagerrak, the Kattegat and the Danish islands to Kiel.  Sailors experienced the full range of enormous tides and wind-induced currents in the Baltic Sea that the race is renowned for!

In the end, overcoming numerous obstacles and vagaries of weather along the way, the J/125 NEEDLES & PINS, skippered by Andreas Rose, took 1st place in ORCC 1 Division by over eight hours corrected time! In fact, they crushed the highly-regarded Volvo 60 ILLBRUCK and two famous Pogo 40’s that regularly race Class 40 events in Europe!  Sailing photo credit-  Antonie Specht/stockmaritime.com   For more Nordseewoche sailing information